Can the Other Parent Get Your Child's School and Medical Information in Ontario?

After a separation, many parents worry about being shut out. You may be the parent who lives apart from the child and wonders whether you can still call the school or ask the doctor how your child is doing. Or you may be the parent with the child most of the time and wonder whether you have to share what you learn.

In Ontario, the right to information is separate from the right to make big decisions. This article explains how those pieces fit together, which law applies to you, how a plan or order can set out information-sharing, and what can be done if someone does not follow it.

The basic rule: information rights come with parenting time

Under the Children's Law Reform Act (CLRA), parenting time includes the right to visit with and be visited by the child. It also includes the same right as a parent to make inquiries and receive information about the child's well-being.

A second rule points the same way. Unless the court orders otherwise, a person with decision-making responsibility or parenting time may ask for and receive information about the child's well-being.

In plain words, being a separated parent does not by itself cut you off from basic information about how your child is doing at school or with their health. The rule is about the child's well-being, so it is worth thinking of it as information, not control.

The right survives even when decision-making is suspended

Parents have an equal right to decision-making responsibility, whether or not they were ever married. There is an exception. If the parents live apart and the child lives with one parent with the other's consent, implied consent or acquiescence, the other parent's right to exercise decision-making responsibility is suspended until a separation agreement or court order says otherwise.

That suspension does not suspend the entitlement to parenting time. Because the information right is part of parenting time, a parent whose decision-making is suspended can still make inquiries and receive information about the child's well-being.

Information versus decisions versus day-to-day authority

Three different things are easy to mix up:

So a parent may be entitled to hear about a medical appointment or a school report without having the final say on a significant health or education choice. Who makes those choices depends on the order, the agreement, or the default rules.

Which law applies, and older wording

The federal Divorce Act governs parenting between married spouses in a divorce. The CLRA applies to unmarried or common-law parents and to married parents who are not divorcing. The two have parallel but separately numbered sections.

The terms decision-making responsibility and parenting time replaced custody and access. The wording of the law has changed in recent years, and older orders and agreements still use the old terms, so if yours says custody or access, a lawyer can help you understand how it reads today.

Setting information terms in a plan, agreement or order

Separated cohabitants may agree in a separation agreement on decision-making responsibility and parenting time. A domestic contract is unenforceable unless it is in writing, signed by the parties and witnessed. When parents agree on a written parenting plan, the court must include it in its parenting order, though it may change the plan if that is in the child's best interests.

Justice Canada suggests a parenting plan cover decision-making and the parenting schedule, among other topics, and advises each parent to show the draft to their own legal adviser before signing. A plan that is included in a Divorce Act order is legally binding.

Agreed terms are not the last word. A court may disregard any provision of a domestic contract on a child's education, decision-making responsibility or parenting time if that is in the child's best interests.

• Name who may contact the school, doctor or other providers.
• Say how report cards, medical updates and appointment details will be shared.
• Keep the terms about information, not about control over the other parent's time.

If an order is not followed, and what to do next

You can be fined or jailed for not following a court order on decision-making responsibility, parenting time or contact. If a person fails to obey an order, the court may make any order it considers necessary for a just result, such as costs, dismissing a claim, striking out documents, or a contempt order.

An order other than a payment order may be enforced by a contempt motion even if another penalty is available. A person found in contempt may be imprisoned or fined. Contempt is serious, so it is usually a step to discuss with a lawyer first.

• Find your current order, agreement or plan and read what it says about information.
• Check whether it uses the older words custody and access.
• Keep a dated record of your written requests and the responses.
• Ask politely and in writing before escalating.
• Speak with a family lawyer if requests are refused or an order is being ignored.

Frequently asked questions